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Martin Luther King Day: White Co-Workers

Saturday Night Live1994Season 20Episode 10
Saturday Night LiveSNL
SKETCH-O-VISION
A VERY GOOD USE OF YOUR TIME.

The setup

Before the long holiday weekend, three white office workers scramble to look as devoted to Martin Luther King Day as the Black co-worker who might be judging them.

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Community rating

– / 10

The premise

Here’s the bit.

Two white employees in an office plan a lazy holiday weekend until a Black colleague, Tim, asks what they will be doing for Martin Luther King Day. Suddenly they claim they will read Dr. King's writings, and Tim cheerfully hands over tickets to a marathon reading of his speeches that runs from morning past midnight. A third white co-worker blows in proposing a drinking trip to Atlantic City, then talks himself into wanting a ticket too. The four swap gifts that mix guilty overcompensation with plain generosity, from a laptop and a wallet to a book on African kings. When Felicia arrives and tearfully condemns the white man in front of the three of them, they slip out, and she and Tim drop the act and compare what they actually got.

The funny people

Meet the cast. 5

Say it with us

Highly quotable.

I'll just plant myself in front of the tube, watch cartoons, and drink beer.

You want to get drunk and go to Atlantic City?

Plus, I got rid of all those Kwanzaa books everybody gave me.

ScriptEnglish · 67 turns

Automatically generated script; wording may contain errors. Speaker labels are inferred.

  1. 00:01

    Jeff Daniels

    Hey, how you doing?

  2. 00:02

    Chris Elliott

    Hey, good.

  3. 00:06

    Jeff Daniels

    Hey, check it out. We got Monday off.

  4. 00:09

    Chris Elliott

    Oh, yeah. It's Washington's birthday or something, isn't it?

  5. 00:12

    Jeff Daniels

    No, it's Martin Luther King Day. What are you going to do?

  6. 00:15

    Chris Elliott

    Oh, probably what I do on every Martin Luther King Day. I'll just plant myself in front of the tube, watch cartoons, and drink beer.

  7. 00:22

    Jeff Daniels

    Yeah, I'm with you. Hey, why don't you come over? I got some air hockey in the basement.

  8. 00:27

    Chris Elliott

    Hey, that's a great idea. I'll be there. I'll bring some Stooges videos.

  9. 00:30

    Jeff Daniels

    Great.

  10. 00:31

    Chris Elliott

    Okay.

  11. 00:31

    Tim Meadows

    Hey, guys. What's going on? Hey, what are you guys doing Monday? You know, Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday.

  12. 00:37

    Jeff Daniels

    Uh, oh, I don't know. I thought I'd just, you know, go to the library and read some of his collected writings.

  13. 00:43

    Chris Elliott

    Yeah, yeah, I'll probably see you there.

  14. 00:46

    Tim Meadows

    Hey, you guys are going to kill yourselves when you hear what I'm doing. They're holding a marathon reading of all Dr. King's speeches at my church.

  15. 00:52

    Jeff Daniels

    Oh, wow!

  16. 00:54

    Tim Meadows

    Unfortunately, they're sold out.

  17. 00:55

    Jeff Daniels

    Oh, wow, sold out. That sucks. That really sucks.

  18. 00:59

    Chris Elliott

    Geez, thanks for telling us about it now. Wow, jeez. I wish I could have heard of that sooner.

  19. 01:04

    Tim Meadows

    Oh, wait, wait, let me finish, though. I just happen to have two spare tickets.

  20. 01:09

    Jeff Daniels

    Oh, that is so excellent.

  21. 01:11

    Chris Elliott

    Yeah, yeah. But now you're putting me on an emotional rollercoaster here, because now you're going to say that you have the two spare tickets, but they're for somebody else.

  22. 01:19

    Tim Meadows

    No, they're all yours.

  23. 01:21

    Jeff Daniels

    Oh, wow. Oh, look, starts at 7 a.m.

  24. 01:25

    Tim Meadows

    Yeah, and it usually runs past midnight.

  25. 01:28

    Chris Elliott

    Oh, boy, you really got your money's worth with this.

  26. 01:31

    Tim Meadows

    Oh, yeah. So let's get some coffee going here, huh? Let's just plug in. Oh, here it is.

  27. 01:38

    Adam Sandler

    Hey, can you guys believe it? We got Monday off for Martin Luther King. You want to get drunk and go to Atlantic City?

  28. 01:46

    Jeff Daniels

    No, we got tickets for that reading of speeches by Dr. King.

  29. 01:49

    Adam Sandler

    Uh-huh, yeah. Seriously, though, you want to get drunk and go to Atlantic City? They got a free bus that goes there every two hours. of course, but, uh, you know, that speech thing, that sounds pretty good. You should give that a shot. You got any more tickets?

  30. 02:02

    Chris Elliott

    No, uh, we snagged the last two.

  31. 02:05

    Adam Sandler

    You lucky bastards! Oh, my! It serves me right for getting here late.

  32. 02:11

    Tim Meadows

    Hey, I tell you what, I'll make a call and rustle up one more.

  33. 02:14

    Adam Sandler

    You're not jazzing me, are you? Because I would kill for one of those tickets.

  34. 02:19

    Tim Meadows

    I'll get you one, don't worry. Hey, I'm glad you guys are here, because I got your Martin Luther King Day presents.

  35. 02:24

    Chris Elliott

    Oh, wow. Yeah.

  36. 02:26

    Tim Meadows

    There you go.

  37. 02:27

    Adam Sandler

    Wow. Yeah. Wow. Oh, this is great. This is great. Oh.

  38. 02:33

    Jeff Daniels

    Oh, look at this. Yes. Great Kings of Africa. Hey. Not too shabby.

  39. 02:38

    Chris Elliott

    Yeah. No. You must have read my mind. Yes.

  40. 02:40

    Adam Sandler

    I got my weekend reading now.

  41. 02:42

    Chris Elliott

    Yeah. Really?

  42. 02:45

    Jeff Daniels

    Hey. I almost forgot. I forgot to give you my present. Here.

  43. 02:50

    Tim Meadows

    Wow. Yeah. Yeah.

  44. 02:53

    Jeff Daniels

    It's already got a bunch of software on it, and, you know, I turned it on for you, so...

  45. 02:57

    Tim Meadows

    This is really beautiful. I can use this.

  46. 02:59

    Chris Elliott

    Uh, here, buddy. Um, here's my present. Happy Martin Luther King Day.

  47. 03:04

    Tim Meadows

    A wallet!

  48. 03:05

    Chris Elliott

    Yeah. But look, it's got my initials on it there to honor Dr. King.

  49. 03:10

    Tim Meadows

    Wow, that's so thoughtful. Yeah. Hey, there's cash in here, too.

  50. 03:13

    Chris Elliott

    Yeah, there is. That's all part of the gift.

  51. 03:16

    Adam Sandler

    Hey, uh, I went in on that, so that's kind of from both of us.

  52. 03:20

    Tim Meadows

    Thank you,

  53. 03:23

    Ellen Cleghorne

    Hi, good morning.

  54. 03:24

    Tim Meadows

    Hey, Felicia. Hey, happy Dr. Martin Luther King Day.

  55. 03:29

    Ellen Cleghorne

    Happy Dr. Martin Luther King Day, my brother. You know, I mean, the white man, he just tries to keep us down.

  56. 03:35

    Tim Meadows

    I know, I know.

  57. 03:37

    Ellen Cleghorne

    You know, we are too strong, too proud for that man.

  58. 03:43

    Chris Elliott

    Felicia, would you like a laptop computer?

  59. 03:47

    Tim Meadows

    Look, guys, could you give us a few minutes, you know?

  60. 03:50

    Jeff Daniels

    Yeah, maybe we better go.

  61. 03:54

    Tim Meadows

    It's okay, they're gone.

  62. 03:56

    Ellen Cleghorne

    Great, so what'd you get?

  63. 03:57

    Tim Meadows

    I got a wallet and a laptop computer. Plus, I got rid of all those Kwanzaa books everybody gave me.

  64. 04:02

    Ellen Cleghorne

    You know what I got? Nothing.

  65. 04:04

    Tim Meadows

    Let's just go to Atlantic City and get drunk.

  66. 04:06

    Ellen Cleghorne

    Okay. sounds good.

  67. 04:34

    for watching!

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